1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus which transfers a pattern of a mold onto a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technology replaced from a method for forming a fine pattern onto a semiconductor device using lithography by an ultraviolet ray, an X-ray, or an electron beam, a nanoimprint has been known. The nanoimprint is a technology for transferring a pattern onto a substrate by pressing (imprinting) a mold on which a fine pattern is formed to a substrate such as a wafer coated with a resin (a resist).
There are several kinds of nanoimprint. As one of the methods, conventionally, a photo-curing method has been proposed. The photo-curing method detaches the mold from the resin after exposing and curing the resin in a state where a transmissive mold is pressed to an ultraviolet ray curing type resin. In this case, for example, a silica grass which transmits the ultraviolet ray is used as a mold.
However, when releasing the mold from the resin, the phenomena of detachment charge occur. This is caused by generating a plus static electricity in a mold and a minus static electricity in a resin. When the material of the mold is a dielectric material such as a silica glass through which the ultraviolet ray transmits, the generated static electricity does not disappear once charged and the charged state is maintained. Thus, when the static electricity caused by the detachment charge is generated to charge the mold, dusts around the air is drawn to adhere to the mold. Therefore, in transferring the next shot, the press to the resin is performed in a state where the dusts adhere to the mold. Thus, there is a problem that the dusts are also transferred onto the wafer or a fine pattern of the mold is destroyed at the time of the transfer.
In this respect, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-98779 discloses a technology for removing the static electricity generated in a mold by introducing ionized gas between a resin and a mold every time after releasing the resin from the mold.
However, when the ionized gas is introduced between the resin and the mold every time, it takes extra time to remove the static electricity and the reduction of throughput in a transfer apparatus is caused.